One of the most learned Church historians of the Ro- man Catholic Church, professor Dollinger, of the Uni-
versity of Munich, in a letter addressed to the Augs- burge'r Zeitung, and since published as a pamphlet in an enlarged form {Encagimgen jTir die Bischofe des Concils, Ratisbon, 1869), subjected the address of the bishops who asked for the promulgation of infallibility to tlie most crushing criticism. Dr. Dollinger says of this petition of the champions of papal infallibility that henceforth " one hundred and eighty millions of human beings are to be forced, on pain of excommunication, refusal of the sacraments, and everlasting damnation, to believe and to profess that which hitherto the Church has not believed, not taught." The proclamation of this dogma, he says, would be an "alteration in the faith and doctrine of the Church such as has never been heard of since Christianity vjas first founded." The whole foundation of the Church would thereby be affect- ed. Dr. DoUinger shows conclusively that until the IGth century the doctrine of papal infallibility was en- tirely unknown, and that, when it was taken up by car- dinal Bellarmine, it could only be supported bj' the tes- timony of Isidorian decretals, which are forged, and those of Cyril, which are a fiction.
The views of Dollinger and Gratry received the em- phatic assent of the large majority of the Catholic schol- ars of Germany and France. The governments of France, Austria, Portugal, Spain, Bavaria, and other Catholic coiuitries instructed their ministers in Rome to enter an earnest protest against a doctrine which would compel all members of the Roman Catholic Church to believe in tlie right of the pope to choose kings and re- lease their subjects from the oath of allegiance. Even some of the members of the council, in particular the cardinal archbishop Rauscher of Vienna, and bishop He- fele of Rottenburg, who was regarded as the most learn- ed bishop of the council, published pamphlets against the dogmatization of infallibility while it was discussed by the council. But all this opposition failed to make the least impression upon the majority of the bishops. From the opening of the council, the infallibilists showed themselves so uncompromising that they refused to give to the minority even one single representative in the important commission on dogmatical questions, which, on tlie other hand, embraced the name of every bishop who, by writings, influence, or otherwise, had gained a prominent position as a defender of infallibility : in par- ticular, archbishop IManning, of Westminster; archbish- op Dechamps, of Malines; archbishop Spalding, of Bal- timore ; bishop INIartin, of Paderborn ; bishop Pie, of Poitiers ; the Armenian patriarch Hassun, of Constanti- nople. The discussion of the question commenced on the loth of May. The schema was comprised in a pre- amble and four chapters, and was known to form the first part of the dogmatic constitution De Ecclesia Chris- ti. The debate is known to have been long and ani- mated, many bishops entering a very earnest protest against the promulgation of such an innovation. Bish- op Strossmayer, of Bosnia and Sirmiiim, in Croatia; bishop Dupanloup, of Orleans, in France ; archbishop Darboy, of Paris ; bisho]i Hefele, of Rottenburg, in Wiir- temberg; cardinal archbishop Rauscher, of Vienna; car- dinal archbishop prince Schwarzenberg, of Prague, are mentioned as those bishops who spoke with the great- est effect against the proposed doctrine. The rcgida- tions of the council made it lawful for ten prelates to petition for the closing of a discussion ; the proposal be- ing then put to the vote of all the fathers, and the ma- jority deciding. When fifty-five speeches had been made on the schema in general, one hundred and fifty bishops sent a petition for closing the general discussion, which was accordingly done, to the great dissatisfaction of the opponents of infallibility, a number of whom ad- dressed to the pope a protest against the closing of the general discussion, as it had deprived the council of the opportunity to heiir all the arguments against the new doctrine. The discussion of the schema as regards the I whole and the several parts having been completed, a I vote was taken according to the regulations in a general
INFALLIBILITY
575
INFALLIBILITY
congregation on the 13th of July, on the whole scheDui by name, with placet, ov placet juxta modum, or non-pla- cet. The result was as follows : 451 placets, 62 placets juxta modum, and 88 non-placets. Some of the placets juxta modum recommended the insertion of words that woiUd make the decree clearer and stronger. The sclie- ma was accordingly altered, and the amendments were retained in the general congregation, held Saturday, Jidy IG. The final step was then taken, in the fourth public session of the council, on the 18th of Julj% The roU of the members was again called, when 534 answered pla- cet, 2 replied non-placet, and lOG were absent, some be- cause sick, the far greater number not willing to vote favorably. As soon as the result was made known of- ticially to Pius IX, he announced the fact of all M'ith the exception of two having given a favorable vote, " Wherefore," he continued, " by virtue of our apostolic authority, with the approval of the sacred council, we detine, confirm, and approve the decree and canons just read." The following is a faithful translation of chap- ter iv of the schema, whicli treats of papal jjifallibility :